Broken DK frame

Someone called my attention to this video because he knew that I used to ride a DK BMX bike in the past. Looks like this DK bike broke into three pieces at a racetrack in Australia. All I can say is: holy crap! I think back to the days when Robbie Miranda jumped ten cars on a DK Legend (the very same bike I used) and the frame was intact. DK seriously needs to look at this as it seems to be some kind of manufacturing defect

BMX race at Tampines BMX track

This is a screenshot of the website  of the private company running the race. In case you are wondering, no, we are not the organisers. Our primary aim is to showcase BMX news in Singapore and to keep you up to date with BMX happenings. But back in the day, we were organising races and we always bought insurance for the riders. Looks like this organiser is washing their hands of any injury that happens at the track. I wonder how parents will feel about this? This is after all a race and I have seen some serious accidents happen. It is always better to be safe than sorry. I sincerely hope nothing goes wrong but a note to the organiser, next time, for the $30 each person pays to race, spend $5 for insurance if anyone gets hurt.

And another thing. For the price they are paying, shouldn't they all should be getting a jersey, not just the first 30 sign-ups?

SSC, SACA, Singapore Cycling Federation, SSF and the bullshit

The old-school BMX gathering was great. We had the usual regulars turning out but the company is all that it is all about...meeting of old friends and exchanging nuggets of information from back in the day, even sharing of stories old and new. Camaraderie...that is BMX for you!

Unfortunately, I cannot say the same thing about our sorry state of BMX here in Singapore. SACA just put up a notice on their web-page to say that one must be certified to run race on the Singapore BMX track. Now, I wonder who was the one that came up with this ridiculous suggestion. Certified? What if some people want to ride the track to try it out? It is roll-able and nice to ride. SSC and SACA, what you have done is effectively KILL BMX again. Who in their right minds will pay $30 to get freaking "certified"? And while we are at that, what give you guys the right to say that we as BMX riders, who have been doing it for years, need to be certified?

We re-started the BMX sport in Singapore to get youth off the street...to get them to channel their energy into the healthy sport of BMX racing. Now look at this bullshit. Who in their right mind will pay $30 to get certified to ride the track? Honestly, whoever is in charge has once again made Singapore the laughing stock as far as BMX has concerned.

We here at Singapore BMX distance ourselves from what SSC and SACA has planned as far as this "certification" is concerned. We do not want this and we did not suggest it, in case anyone is wondering. The screenshots of the web-page where these new rules are, are provided below

'Youth' Olympic Solidarity

There is a new group in Facebook that will serve as a wake-up call for the BMX scene in Singapore as far as the YOG is concerned. It is located here. The mission of this Facebook group is to give a “wake up call to the National Olympic Committee of Singapore”, not only to try to do the best as hosts of the first Youth Olympic Games (YOG) – investing money in IT, PR, and so on - but also to support athletes in their own country. Check it out

BMX talk

I get many people asking me via emails, telephone calls and even on Twitter about what is the vision for Singapore as far as BMX is concerned. The thing is, I do not know. I suspect that even the people looking after BMX in Singapore do not know either. But then again, many of these jokers do not rock the cradle...they are pretty much afraid to. There is nothing in the timetable after the YOG in August, which I do not need reminding is only about 7 months away. Our BMX riders do not even have a proper track to practice on. So for the inaugural Youth Olympics with BMX in its repertoire, which will be held in Singapore, all we have Singapore-wise is a bunch of commisaires, which from what I saw, do not seem to know what BMX is and some of them do not even ride BMX nor were ever BMX riders in a race.

What is your vision for BMX in Singapore? Let us know. Send us an email at admin@osbmx.com

Downhill BMX

I thought I would post this after a friend of mine posted a similar video in Facebook. Now this is hardcore BMX...downhill style. No suspensions like those downhill mountain-bike races. Here you not only have to ride on BIG jumps but you also have to contend with 7 other magnificent riders who are equally adept at taking the course on like you do. To all those SSC or Singapore Sports Council people who are watching, this is BMX! This IS Bicycle Motocross! This WILL be a feature in the Youth Olympics in 2010! Watch and understand!

Singapore BMX questions

I have been getting a lot of questions in my email, via SMS on my mobile phone and even on the forum. Some of the questions are about BMX in Singapore for the Youth Olympics in 2010 and some are even about the state of our one and only BMX track in Singapore at Tampines. I will answer all you questions to the best of my ability. After being VP of BMX in SACA for some time, I know a thiong or two with regards to BMX racing in Singapore. Send me an email at admin@osbmx.com and I will see what I can do about it

Olympics BMX 2008

20th August 2008. This marks the day of the start of the BMX in the Olympics. I did not get a chance to see it on television as I was at work but I am sure some videos will crop up in YouTube soon. In any case, the seeding runs have finished, as well as the quarter-finals. Results are located here

Another Temasek Polytechnic student sends me an email

I received this in the mail the other day.

Good Day,

We are a bunch of Temasek Design School students, currently working on our year 2 Project which is to design a website for the Youth Olympic Games. So, we have decided to focus on the new sports that will be featured in the Olympics and one of it is BMX Racing.

It would be great if you could provide us the information on the apparels, equipments and the rules & regulation for BMX Racing. And maybe your opinion on the future prospects of BMX in terms of an event in the Olympics, since there are the different genres of BMX. And is it possible for us to hold a meet up so that we conduct an interview with you?

To the one that wrote this, you are more than welcome to interview me and I will do all I can for the promotion of BMX in Singapore. Well, he said he might come down for the old-school BMX gathering on the 16th of August. We hope to see him there.

Its on the 16th og August, not the 18th

Made a bit of a mistake there. In an earlier post, I said that the next old-school BMX gathering in Singapore would be on the 18th. That is wrong and I apologise for that. Next meeting of the old-schoolers is on the 16th of August at Bukit Batok Skatepark. I hope to see a big turnout and we will have some new faces there. Bring your bikes out and reminisce!

We could have had our own training facility in Singapore for BMX

I got this from Gene's BMX site. Imagine. If the Singapore Sports Council and MCYS had actually LISTENED to us back then, we would have had a great BMX track for these guys to come and train on. Given Singapore's relatively close proximity to China, it would have been perfect. These guys had to go to Australia to train because their BMX scene is much better than us. Instead, the powers that be at SSC and MCYS chose to ignore us and now? They are rushing like MAD to get things up and running for the Youth Olympics in 2010! We could have been prepared close to 8 years ago!

The Argentina BMX Team leaves Tuesday at 1850 hrs. bound for Australia on first step of it`s trip to the 2008 Olympic Games. In Australia, they will be able to train in a similar manner to Beijing and the team will be able to adjust to the hourly time change.

Team members travelling from Argentina include riders Gabriela Diaz, Maria Dutto and Ramiro Marino. Accompanying them will be National Coach, Flavio Vacarezza. Coming from the United States will be Men's racer, Cristian Becerine who will meet the rest of the team in Australia. Men's Alternate, Javier Colombo (2006 UCI World Champion) will remain and train at his home in California. - www.bmxargentina.com

BMX site in Austria

Came across this Austrian BMX site. Looks pretty cool. I cannot understand what they wrote in German but it looks like they have a thriving BMX community down there. Looks like they were drawn to this site because they were looking for BMX monkeys. Well my friends, the monkeys are still around...

BMX makes one reminisce

Got this in an email today. Pretty good feeling I got I admit. Thanks Zul!

Hello there..

Zul here... I came across ur webbie on bmx... Cool website... I'm 24 years old now and after browsing at the pictures from your webbie, it reminds me of those time when I used to ride a bmx bike and my 1st bmx bike was Kuwahara, a birthday gift from my late grandfather in 1994. In 1999 when I was in Sec 3, I then save up my money and got myself a Specialized Fatboy and used to riding with my friends. My Fatboy was my trusty mode of transport since my sec school days till my poly days. I'm now working and my Fatboy has been collecting dust in my store room for almost 5 years and I last rode it in 2004. But after looking at ur pics, I miss riding my Fatboy and yesterday I just sent it for servicing after years. Keep up with the BMX revival... Cheers

Some good BMX resources on the web

Most of the folks in Singapore do not know what BMX racing is about. I know, I know. I have been through this before. Just the other day, I received an email from a school teacher asking us if we can give some BMX lessons to their schoolkids. John and myself thought that it was a great idea to introduce it. A little late perhaps but better late than never. So I asked the teacher to check out some BMX resources on the net to get a better understanding what BMX was all about and I asked him to go to some of the links on this website. While checking through the links, I came upon this website that I stumbled upon in 2000 when I first set up the website. It was the website of New Jersey BMX and it was the very first BMX website set up, in 1995 no less! That website and BMX Mania are examples of some of the great BMX website available for people to know about our beloved sport. You can check the links on the right --> for more links to other great BMX websites.

Next old-school BMX gathering - 12th July 2008

Dear fellow BMXers,

Kindly be informed that there is a gathering for biking and "talk talk" on Saturday 12 July 2008. Dinner cue "talk talk time" @ Blk 177 coffeshop - 7 pm to about 7.45pm.
Then to the SKATEPARK @ Blk 175 Bukit Batok West Avenue 8 (S)650175. You may bring you bike there or simply go there for "talk talk".

Looking forward for your presence there.

Thanks,
EddyMeng

More details found here

Simple Bike Company

Simple Bike Company is a bike company that hails from Europe, Denmark in fact. From what I can see at their site, the bikes are exactly what they are, simple and pleasing to look at. You can judge from the two Simple BMX frames in the picture above. Check them out at SimpleBMX.com

BMX shop in Singapore?

I just got asked via a post in the blog about the No. 1 BMX shop in Singapore. I really had to pause and think about this one. As it is, there is no number one BMX shop in Singapore because as a whole, bike shops in Singapore are generally devoid of any thing BMX-wise. they do not understand BMX and they do not know BMX. Those that claim to know BMX (like some of these monkeys claiming to be BMX consultants) are normally people who get all their knowledge from watching freestyle videos and MTV. Imagine that, if these so-called consultants do not know about BMX, how do you expect those bike-shops to know?

We are still waiting for the SACA AGM. We want to have BMX represented properly. In short, we do not want monkeys spoiling the scene. BMX should be represented by real BMXers, BMXers who raced or who have raced. We intend to do that. This website intends to do that.

The old-school BMX gathering at Bukit Batok Skatepark

As usual, it was a great gathering of all the old-schoolers and I must say that I really look forward to such gatherings. Present last night were Salleh, Eddy Chan, Freddy aka Kruger, Ismail, Hassan, Frederick, Selvan and his lady, Eddy Meng and Rick. The highlight of the day had to be the old "black horse" bike that Eddy Chan restored. Truly a work of art but my gosh, the laid back head angle made it exceedingly difficult for me to pedal, given my long legs and all. I had to sit way back at the end of the bike in order to ride this bike effectively.

Photos are here: http://z15.invisionfree.com/Singapore_BMX_Forums/index.php?showtopic=1166

Kawasaki BMX team

One of my friends just showed me a video of the Kawasaki BMX Team. Looks like they are taking a leaf out of Kuwahara's hat by making bikes as well. They look an awful lot like the Kuwahara complete bikes. Could this be a resurgence? You never know. Cool!

The monkeys are still around

Had a brief chat with an old cycling friend of mine yesterday. He confirmed that the rumours are indeed true. Tthere are some monkeys who are exploiting the Youth Olympics for personal gain or even monetary gain. No names mentioned but some among these monkeys are not even BMXers now nor in the past. Perfect. Just perfect. I told my friend to just relax and watch the freak show happen. I wonder if any of the monkeys are reading it now?